Knuckles’ Chaotix is a platform game, published for the Sega 32X in 1995, that is a spin-off from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It features Knuckles the Echidna (who first appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 3), and a rather unique partner system where characters are tethered to each other by a rubber band.

Knuckles’ Chaotix was not developed by Sonic Team, the internal team within Sega that had created all the previous Sonic games, but a different, separate internal Sega team. Production began in 1994, with a prototype called “Sonic Crackers“, which experimented with the rubber band tethering system.

Knuckles’ Chaotix was initially planned to be a Sega Saturn game, but development was switched to the 32X when Sega decided that waiting for the Saturn to launch would take too long.

The ‘rubber band’ tethering mechanic makes two-player games (and parts of the single-player game), interesting to control. Maybe even frustrating for some players. You can’t disagree, though, that it’s at least bold and different.

The presentation in Knuckles’ Chaotix is first class. With colourful, smooth-scrolling backgrounds, fast sprite-scaling, and wacky level designs. The gameplay has been finely honed, too.

If you like Sonic games, then you’ll probably love this. The tethering mechanic might win over a few new fans (or lose a few others), but the gameplay is more or less the same as in previous Sonic games.

Knuckles’ Chaotix came out in Japan on 21st April 1995, and then in North America and Europe in May and June 1995 respectively. It received mixed reviews and was considered a commercial failure.

More: Knuckles’ Chaotix on Wikipedia